Breaking the figure down, Windows Phone has claimed a 12% share of the market in Great Britain, up from 4.5%, and a 10.8% stake in France, rising from 5.6% one year ago.

The operating system is almost level with Apple's iOS in Germany, where it holds an 8.8% slice compared to its competitor's 9.5%.

Windows Phone remains firmly in third place behind iOS and Google's Android, but it is growing at a faster rate than its rivals thanks to strong sales of the Nokia Lumia 520 and other devices in the Finnish firm's line.

Kantar's figures also suggest that BlackBerry's European market share is shrinking rapidly, falling from 5.8% to 2.4% during the period in question.